ISLAMABAD, June 10: Urban centres in the country have witnessed increased terrorist attacks in recent weeks but paramilitary and police forces look as ill-equipped to meet the situation as they were before America's ‘Get Osama’ operation in Abbottabad that made the militant groups revengeful.

Even the higher allocations announced for the two forces in the national budget for the new fiscal year, beginning on July 1, are unlikely to increase their capacity sufficiently to check the danger the militants pose to civilian population.

Budget documents promise 22 per cent more ‘operating expenditure’ to the Frontier Constabulary - Rs183 million compared to Rs150 million allocated in 2008-09 budget.

The Frontier Corps has been meted a more generous treatment. The operating expenditure of the Frontier Corps in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has gone up 53.8 per cent to Rs769 million from Rs500 million but a miserly 12 per cent increase for the corps units in Balochistan -- Rs952 million for 2011-12 against Rs850 million in 2008-09.

On paper the increases look substantial but much of the gloss vanishes when inflation is factored in. The fuel prices alone witnessed a big hike. Petrol price rose by 25.9 per cent while diesel went up by a whooping 88.22 percent.

For example, the fuel bill of the Frontier Constabulary jumped from Rs48 million to Rs63 million in the past three years.

Analysts point out that the budgetary allocations to the para- military forces will have to be increased if the war on terror is to be won and the ordinary people protected from suicide attacks or the sort of attacks that were launched against PNS Mehran Base in Karachi.

Two things are needed to counter this phenomenon of militants launching attacks in or from urban centres, according to Dr Maria Sultan, a defence and security analyst.

“The para-military forces and the police need better equipment and modern operating training. In addition, modern technology such as surveillance cameras should be there to ensure effective and constant monitoring of sensitive locations,” she said.While the military guards and conducts operations the militant infested border areas, the security challenges in urban areas cannot be addressed without providing more resources to the civil side of law enforcement.

This has become all the more clear from the devastating attacks on shrines in April and the worse of PNS Mehran where the attackers entered the base from the nearby residential areas.

Each time, it was evident that had the local police and intelligence been stronger, the attack could have been prevented.

The military also took that line when, in his appearance in the secret session of the parliament, ISI chief General Shuja Pasha partially blamed the local police and intelligence for not finding out the Osama Bin Laden hideout in Abbottabad.

On Thursday, the corps commanders conference regretted the “insufficient support from civilian law enforcement agencies” to the military's efforts against the militants.

Despite all this focus on the civil forces and their shortcomings, their budgetary needs are not met fully.

A senior official of Sindh police complained that the government was ignoring the special branch. “The special branch has meagre operating budget which at times is not even adequate to cover the travel expenses of our employees on assignments,” he said.

He gave the example of a special branch official posted to a small town in Sindh had to hitch rides from the very persons he was sent to interview and collect information.

“What quality information can you expect him to collect?” he asked.

His frustrations are reflected in the insufficient budgetary allocations made to his department.

The Islamabad police face similar problems.

A senior official of Islamabad police told Dawn that despite a 60 per cent increase in the force's budget since 2008-09 the average shortfall in operating expenditures of the force comes to between Rs130 and Rs150 million annually. The police did not have enough money to purchase even fuel and stationary.

In the outgoing fiscal year, Islamabad police was promised Rs302.70 million but got Rs297 million. That made it drop the safe city project, which involved the installation of security cameras at major roads and crossings.

A massive chunk of whatever the police's budget goes into securing the diplomatic enclave, the red zone and the capital's VIPs, he said.